Hangers or airers for clothes and light articles



July 21, 1959 LAUGHTON 2,895,657

HANGERS OR AIRERS FOR CLOTHES AND LIGHT ARTICLES Filed Oct. 28, 1957 FIG 6 United States Patent 9 HANGERS R AIRERS FOR CLOTHES AND LIGHT ARTICLES Malcolm Laughton, Selly Oak, Birmingham, England Application October 28, 1957, Serial No. 692,682

Claims priority, application Great Britain November 6, 1956 -1 Claim. (Cl. 223-92) This invention relates to hangers or airers for clothes and light articles. Such hangers are frequently made as a bar of wood or plastic, generally of curved form, in which a hole is provided for receiving a metal or other hook so that the hanger may be suspended in a wardrobe or before a fire or other source of heat and a. garment or garments hung on the bar can be conveniently stored or aired when not in use. Hangers are also made with a second bar connected to the ends, and hangers with either a single bar or two bars are often made from a suitable plastic and provided with recessed portions or hook parts at intermediate points short of the ends in which straps or loops of garments may enter to facilitate suspension.

Plastic hangers are known in which a plastic suspension hook is moulded in one with the bar, or the main upper bar as the case may be, and also in which a separately moulded plastic hook has to be connected with the hanger by forcing the stem laterally through a gap in the bar leading to a bore or recess for it.

An object of the invention is to provide a plastic hanger from which the hook is detachable for packing and transport or storage but can readily be threaded into a housing which is not gapped, but has a continuous surrounding wall open at the top and base with complementary bearing means between the stem of the hook and the housing when assembled.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of a single bar hanger with the hook in place.

Figure 2 is a side view of the central part of the bar hanger with the hearing or housing for the hook shown in vertical section.

Figure 3 is an inverted plan of the hanger with the hook turned to a position perpendicular to the plane containing the hanger bar.

Figure 4 is a side view of the stem of the hook.

Figure 5 is a front view of the hook.

Figure 6 is a cross section of the hook on line 6--6 of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a sectional plan of the hook on line 7-7 of Figure 5.

Figure 8 is a vertical section of an alternative construction of the hearing or housing of the hanger bar.

Figure 9 shows the lower part of a hook for use with a bar having a housing as shown in Figure 8.

In the embodiment illustrated at Figures 1 to 7, a is the plastic hanger bar and b a detachable hook. The hanger bar has a bearing housing 0 to receive the hook, which housing has a bore d through it open above and below. The bore is thus surrounded by a continuous wall, preferably presenting a slightly conical inner surface as at e, Figu e 2. The hook b is made of a size and cross section which permits it to be threaded from be- 2,895,657 Patented July 21, 1959 ice low up through the bore of the housing until a larger portion at or near the end of its stem 1 engages the wall of the housing.

This bearing end of the hook may be a solid portion finishing in an end plate or disc g. The bore in the hanger bar may have a rebate h in the wall at its lower end in which the plate or disc g is received and bears against the shoulder formed by the rebate in a manner permitting relative rotary movement between the bar and the hook. The portion of the stem 1 which will be in a recess of the bar may be of complementary section with the bore of the recess, but is preferably ribbed. The free edges of the ribs may be inclined, see Figures 4 and 5, to suit the conical inner surface of the housing Wall.

A convenient section of the ribbed form of stem of the hook is cruciform and above that portion the section may gradually merge into a T section, see Figures 6 and 7 with the cross bar 1' of the T forming the inner surface of the hook and a smooth broad surface for resting on a rail or other supporting member. The stem or web j of the T forms a stiffening rib around the hook.

It is convenient in either case, a solid conical part of the stem or a ribbed form, to provide a fiat end disc g at the base and to provide the accompanying rebate h in the lowermost part of the wall of the housing as hereinbefore referred to.

It is desirable to provide means on the hook stern for yieldingly retaining the hook in the housing when the hanger is not in use. For this purpose two slight projections k may be moulded at opposite points at the top of the lower stem part of the hook as shown in Figures 1 and 4, which will snap out of the lipped upper end of the housing 0 when the hook is threaded into place and will resist its return sufficiently to retain it in position against falling back when the hanger is not in use.

The hanger is rotatable on the book when suspended so that it can be self accommodating when a number of garments are suspended in close relation along a rail as in a wardrobe.

I claim:

A moulded plastic garment hanger having a detachable plastic hook comprising in combination a one-piece yoke bar, a bearing housing therein open above and below the yoke bar and having an internal wall surface terminating in a lipped upper end on the yoke bar and in a shoulder near the underside of the yoke bar and a hook having a flat end plate on its stem, said hook having in addition a cruciform section stem above the end plate and a curved hook part above the cruciform stem having a broad underface and a stiffening upstanding perpendicular rib, the underface being formed as a continuation of two opposed arms of the cruciform stem, the plastic hook further having small projections on opposed ribs of its cruciform stem which projections are placed so that they will snap out of the lipped upper end of the internal wall surface of the housing when the hook is threaded up into place in the housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,550,634 Polkko Aug. 18, 1925 2,576,761 Kittredge Nov. 27, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 739,206 Great Britain Oct. 26, 1955 755,742 Great Britain Aug. 29, 1956 

